The Flaming Lancer and The Retro Lancer Rock the Gears of War 3 Multi-Player Beta

Today is a day that will live in infamy - The Cog and Locust armies begin to battle it out in living rooms all over the United States. April 25th is the start of the multi-player beta for those who pre-ordered the Gears of War 3 game. Those who pre-ordered the video game Bulletstorm have already had beta access for a week now. The Gears of War 3 multi-player beta will last until May 15th. Each week features new unlockables and game playlists.

Having spent the entire day playing the beta, there is clearly a lot of awesome additions to what most already believe is one of the greatest Xbox exclusive games ever created. If you are sitting down to play the beta for the first time, you will notice that you have to set up your load out and character beforehand much like you would do in Halo. Over time, you will unlock new weapons, new weapon skins (totally new feature here), and new characters (even a girl!).

Team Deathmatch has a new spin on it. The developers added limited respawns to each side, which is an improvement, as it keeps the games short and action filled. There is also more strategy needed ---Priority Number One --- Stay Alive! Kamikaze moves are less appealing when they screw over your team than when you have unlimited respawns like before. This addition will move things along and make us all better players because it will force us to think more strategically and to focus on our weapon skills.

New Weapons are a welcome addition to the gameplay:

The Retro Lancer is a sweet addition, and it sports a deadly spike bayonet instead of the modern chainsaw Lancer.

Other new additions are the Sawed-Off Shotgun that obliterates enemies in one blast, but you have to be extremely close to them for it to be effective and the reload rate is extraordinarly slow.

There are also improvements to the Gorgon Burst Pistol from Gears of War 2, as it is now fully automatic and powerful!

The new sniper rifle called the "One-Shot" is powerful enough to explode a Boomshield, which is something no weapon to date has been able to do in the game.

We also have a new grenade to play with -- The Incendiary Grenade. It will stick to anything in its range and burn the hell out of it. The residue will continue to burn for a while and will burn anything that tries to walk or run through it.

If you are fortunate enough to be playing with a group of good friends and your buddy has a weapon you want to play with, in Gears of War 3, you can actually walk up to the other player and swap the weapons. This is a completely new feature to the game franchise.

Unlockables galore will motivate you

to continue to play week by week, as each week features different unlockables and playlists.

According to Gearspedia, the list of exclusive beta unlockables are:

Flaming Hammerburst -- Complete one match by Sunday, April 24 to permanently unlock.

Flaming Lancer -- Complete one match during the week of April 25 to permanently unlock.

Flaming Sawed-Off Shotgun -- Complete one match during the week of May 2 to permanently unlock.

Flaming Gnasher Shotgun -- Complete one match during the week of May 9 to permanently unlock.

Beta Tester Medal -- Complete one match in the Beta to permanently unlock.

Thrashball Cole -- Complete 50 matches in any game type to unlock for the Beta period. To permanently unlock, complete 10 matches as Thrashball Cole during the Beta period.

Gold-Plated Retro Lancer -- Complete 90 matches in any game type to unlock for the Beta period. To permanently unlock, score 100 kills with the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer during the Beta period.

It is really exciting that these items will carry over to the retail game -- This is a huge bonus for beta players and a sweet reward for pre-ordering the Gears of War 3 retail game.

So what are you waiting for, get in there and start working towards your 90 games for the big unlockable Gold-Plated Retro Lancer.